Put down the coffee!
Time to take a break from the day and get into another author interview!
Now I have Tyler Witkofsky dropping in. He's an author and publisher and...well, let's just read it!
DCU or MCU?
I have always been a Marvel guy. From my wee ages of beginning to read, I always gravitated to the Marvel comics. I appreciate the stories and the character depth more. Don’t get me wrong, some of the arcs are just plain silly, but isn’t that true for all comics?
Coffee, tea, or cacao?
It depends on the day. As the Publisher & President of Tea With Coffee Media, I’m fond of Coffee and Tea more than cacao. Coffee when I need energy, tea when I want to wind down.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always been a ‘writer’. My grandmother was a high school English teacher and I spent a lot of time with her and my grandfather. They were idols in my life and she taught me creative writing and encouraged it in me from a young age. She instilled the love of writing in me. When I first decided to become an author and publish my book was 2019 when I wrote (Not) Alone. I decided to publish that because I wanted to make an impact on others who were struggling with their mental illness by showing them some based on true events and stories of my struggles.
When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I was actually first published when I was in the fifth grade, so I guess that would make me about eleven or twelve because I won a writing contest. I was published in a short story collection with the theme of ‘How do I’. My story was How Do I Get in Trouble with My Mom and Snakes. I have actually contemplated rewriting the story and publishing it to my blog, TylerWittkofsky.com
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When am I not doing something writing-related is a better question. As the Publisher and President of Tea With Coffee Media, much of my week is filled with reading manuscript submissions, editing books, handling company financials, creating marketing materials, or scrolling through the various Writing Communities on social media. Jack of All Trades, Master of None! However, I love traveling or just spending time with my wife, Grace, and dogs Dutch and Belle. We actually sold our home in May of 2023 and have been traveling full-time since. It has been a breath of fresh air.
What does your family think of your writing?
My wife Grace is so supportive of my writing. While I’m the president, SHE is the owner of Tea With Coffee Media. Without her, there would be no us. She believes in me and my vision for Tea With Coffee Media. She helps with the editing and marketing facets of the business, but she loves reading my books. Or should I say, me reading her my books? I read her my chapters as I finish them and she goes back after it's published to see how it changed. My grandmother is another one of my biggest fans. She has a signed copy of every one of my books and anthologies that I have been published in. She specifically asks me to sign each and every one of them. My brother Justin and sister-in-law Erin are really supportive of me and my blog writing. They read all of my blogs on TylerWittkofsky.com and adventurewcoffee.wordpress.com, as well as all of my interviews, and listen to most of my podcasts. They are some of my biggest champions.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I have quite a few reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and at the beginning of my writing career I had the mindset that reviews were for the authors. I was wrong, and I’m happy to admit that today. Based on many of my reviews, they loved the mental health aspects of my books. People I know who have read my book, have always told me they enjoyed the refreshing take on mental health awareness. They love the stories of hope I tell for those with mental illness.
What do you think makes a good story?
I think a good story is one that evokes emotion. Any kind of intense emotion that the reader gets from my writing, is considered a successful read by me. I want to make people smile, make people cry. I want them to feel the characters on a new level that they haven’t felt before. With my books, it is all about connecting to the reader and helping to make them feel heard and not alone.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I loved animals as a child, so I always wanted to be a veterinarian. I had this intense desire to save animals, and not just cats and dogs. I wanted to go out on safaris and help wild lions and tigers and gorillas and elephants. I aimed big.
What is the first book that made you cry?
Summer of the Monkeys was the first book that made me cry. I don’t know what it was about that book, but it just struck an emotional chord for me.
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A little bit of both, depending on what I am writing. I do a lot of writing for my 8-5 job and some of it is more technical writing, which often exhausts me. When I get in this exhausted mood by my day job, it wears me out and causes me not to write my personal projects that day. However, there are times when I work on my own works and feel so energized and excited about my writing. When I get into those moods, it is hard for me to stop writing!
What are common traps for aspiring writers?
I think one of the biggest traps aspiring authors fall into is thinking that writing is going to be easy access to money and will allow you to quit your job. While yes, there are cases where this is true and people have gotten successful enough to live comfortably off their writing without another source of income, the reality is that it doesn’t happen that way for everyone. You have to go into writing with the mindset that you love to create and invoke emotion instead of a money grab.
Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?
I’ve mentioned it before, but I think the whole point of writing (and really any kind of creative form of expression) is to invoke emotion in your audience. Art is about creating value for the audience and giving them something that can lead to lifelong memories, create a love of writing, or bring them hope in the darkness. Someone who doesn’t feel emotion strongly may have a hard time invoking these emotions in someone when they themself don’t know what it is like to be happy, sad, angry, or scared.
What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
I have a ton of author friends. Kelsey Anne Lovelady has been one of my longest author friends. She and I met on the online multi-author blog, Darkened Veil Universe, then went on to write together with In the Pantheon & In the Crescent. She has been one of my biggest fans in the writing community, providing me with feedback on most of my writing. She and I actually released a book on July 7th called Potent. It is a modern-day retelling of A Midsummer's Night Dream starring Oberon and Titania. Sherri Holister I met through a Shameless Self Promo group on Twitter in which authors would share one another’s tweet and each author would like and/or retweet the other's tweets. She has become one of the partners for Tea With Coffee Media and helps promote indie authors. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my business partners Kelsey, Kaitlyn Kalor, and Victoria Moxley who helped to start Tea With Coffee Media. They have supported me and my writing since day one and have always believed in my vision for Tea With Coffee Media.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you building a body of work with connections between each book?
While technically each book will stand alone (or in the case of the Sunflower Kisses Series, be a series of its own), however, they all take place in the world of my first book, (Not) Alone. There are callbacks to (Not) Alone in most of my books.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Don’t worry about reviews.
What does literary success look like to you?
Literary success to me is helping publish as many authors as possible through Tea With Coffee Media.
What do you have coming next?
My next release is Potent: Enamored Echoes Book One, a modern-day take on A Midsummer’s Night Dream featuring Oberon, Titania, and Queen Mab as well as mentions of beings from throughout history. Next, on March 12th of 2024, I am releasing The Principal’s Principles, a story inspired by my grandma as the first female administrator in a small rural 1980’s school system. She faces discrimination by students and staff alike. The next planned release is Time & Tide: Enamored Echoes Book Two on September 24th 2024, which is a retelling of Blackbeard and Anne Bonny as pirates.
